MANILA, Philippines - It’s the Aces against the kings, the best against the best.
Alaska’s decisive entry into the final, ousting a courageous outsider in GlobalPort, has ensured a combustible series against league kings the San Miguel Beermen or Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
Whoever hurdle their side of the Final Four, the 2016 Smart Bro PBA Philippine Cup will be an exciting and explosive finale between two of the toughest teams in the pro loop today.
In easing out Final Four gatecrasher GlobalPort, Alaska Milk has guaranteed a championship face-off between two marquee ball clubs starting either Jan. 17 or Jan. 19.
It could be a repeat of the Philippine Cup finals last year between Alaska and San Miguel Beer or a first-ever titular showdown between the Aces and the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.
All three teams have been major title contenders in the last few years, making either an Alaska-SMB tiff or an Alaska-ROS tussle a duel of the best.
Alaska Milk team owner Wilfred Uytengsu is thrilled over a matchup with either San Miguel or Rain or Shine, believing either of the two would be a great treat to the PBA fans.
But Uytengsu refused to pick a team for a matchup with the Aces, saying “be careful of what you ask for.”
The amiable team owner expressed confidence the Aces would be ready to come out and battle whichever team they face in the best-of-seven finals.
“I would love nothing more than to present rings for our next all-Filipino win,” said Uytengsu, a fixture in the games all these years since Alaska’s entry in the league in 1986.
“We’re gonna play who wins,” said Uytengsu of the San Miguel-Rain or Shine playoff which was deadlocked at two games apiece at press time.
“We want to play Rain or Shine because they don’t have the tradition and the experience of San Miguel and they’re very talented and a lot of weapons. Look at the record, it’s a 2-2 series. You wish to play San Miguel for redemption and you come out with an extremely well-coached team and they won two of the last three championships,” Uytengsu noted.
“Either way, it’s gonna be hard. To be the best, you have to beat the best. So I don’t care who we play, as long as we will win.”
If it’s San Miguel, Alaska hopes to erase the stigma of its heartbreaking loss in the last All-Filipino finale.
“Last year’s all-Filipino was such a painful loss, because we were there. We clawed ourselves back from double-digit figures in the second half in each of the game we won and in Game Seven, we clawed back from 22 points,” Uytengsu recalled.
“We led with less than a minute to go and let it slip in our fingers. The reminder there is we have to play 48 minutes of hard basketball each game and have to do it in each of every game we play. And I hope that we come up with four wins this time,” Uytengsu added.
The Beermen snatched the crown on a last-second shot by Arwind Santos after a bizarre sequence seeing Jvee Casio slip and crash on the floor on a breakaway fastbreak that would have sealed their triumph.
San Miguel completed a double-championship last season also with a conquest of Alaska in the Governors Cup finals.
Alaska coach Alex Compton also sees an exciting finale.
“I don’t think necessarily that because we’re playing at a high level, you can win. If you look at the other series, both of those teams were playing at a high level. Without question, they’re capable of beating us. We’re also capable of beating them, and I think it will be a good series,” said the Alaska bench chieftain.
“Those teams pose very different problems, making it hard to scout. San Miguel and Rain or Shine are so different. You’re not gonna prepare the same way for both. So, I really think they’re both excellent teams. Either one of them are capable of beating us. San Miguel beat us twice in the finals last year. Rain or Shine has beaten us in the elims this year. I do like to keep the defensive energy we had in this series,” Compton added.